Van Hits Bus Head-on In City

Driver 'Guarded'

A Bethlehem man was in guarded condition last night in the Lehigh Valley Hospital Center after his van struck a LANTA bus head-on in the 2200 block of W. Broad Street.

Nelson Madera of 1968 Gatewood Lane was critically injured in the freakish two-part accident, which occurred shortly after 5:30 p.m.

The accident, which involved four vehicles, began when Antonia Silva, of 511 N. Kearney St., Allentown, pulled his car out from a stop sign at the intersection of Grandview Boulevard and W. Broad Street, police reported.

Silva later told police that he saw the Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority bus heading west on W. Broad Street but felt he had sufficient time to turn left before the bus arrived at the intersection.

The bus driver, Richard Weidner of Allentown, told police he tried to stop and swerved left but could not avoid hitting Silva's car. The right front of the bus struck the left rear of the car.

That was the first part of the accident.

As the car and bus collided, Weidner saw Madera's van traveling east on W. Broad Street at a high speed, police said. The bus had never left the westbound lane, according to the report, but the van suddenly crossed the center line and struck the bus head-on.

The van, which belonged to the Mount Sinai Assembly of God Church, 632 N. 5th St., Allentown, was demolished.

After striking the bus, the van spun around and slid into an unoccupied van parked on the opposite side of the street. That van, which belongs to Jan S. Ochman of 1526 Third St., Bethlehem Township, was pushed onto the sidewalk and its right front tire became embedded in the ground nearby.

A firefighter who helped remove Madera from the van said he was lying unconscious in the back of the vehicle, where he apparently had been thrown upon impact. A city ambulance took Madera to the hospital center.

Weidner and Genevieve Stewart, a passenger on the bus, complained of back pain after the accident. Stewart reportedly was taken to St. Luke's Hospital by a Valley Transport ambulance.

According to the police report, Silva failed to observe the stop sign.